When working full time, over time, or two-to-three jobs, your schedule seems to become a structured yet exhausting routine. At the end of the day, you look forward to doing nothing more than a having good meal and lots of sleep, which isn’t entirely a bad thing.

When the weeks get busy, you forget about the other things in life that you enjoy. Post-work routines become a concern when you find yourself feeling lonely or wasting your free time on weekends catching up on sleep. Taking time for yourself is important but so is socializing, and work can make it seem difficult to do so.

9-to-5 isn’t your entire life. Valuing your time and energy outside of work is more needed than most people realize.

Here are 7 reminders why it is important to have a life outside of work.

1) Try Something New.

The world is too big to stay in one place and life is too short to just focus on one thing. Splurge a bit and budget some money to do something totally new, like joining a recreational hockey team, taking a cooking class or yoga workshop after work. You’ll be grateful that you did.

Trying something new and being around a different group of people other than your employees can entice you to keep learning, engage with new experiences and expand your social network.

2) Leave Work At Work.

If you leave your office, go home, open up your lap top and start hustling answering more emails, you’re clearly missing out on life. Sounds like you’re a snooze to be around.

Leave work at work. Doing something (anything) outside the office instantly makes you more interesting to be around.

3) Have a ‘Work Hard, Play Harder’ Mentality.

When we have something to look forward to outside of the work, it can be motivation to work hard so you can treat yourself at the end of the week. It’s not a bad idea to plan ahead for dinner and drinks with friends so you do have something to look forward to.

This idea also ties into making a conscious effort to celebrate the small accomplishments that you have achieved during your work week. With your employees or not, be sure to recognize your hard work and celebrate the success outside of work. Nothing wrong with a celebratory patio beverage, right?

4) Go Out. You are Networking and You Don’t Even Know It.

Socializing after work with friends and new friends is networking incognito. Of course, you will talk about your job which can always spark up interesting conversations and new relationships.

People love connecting their friends with others in the networks. Put on your extrovert pants on, go out and make an effort to socialize more. How does gaining a new friend make you feel?

5) Work For a Company that Encourages Work-Life Balance.

At the company I work for, SPLICE, we pride ourselves on strong company culture and work-life balance. Our leadership not only requires employees to have a hobby, they actively encourage us to take time to pursue our interests, plus spend time with our families and friends. They also encourage health and fitness, which we participate in weekly yoga classes at Parliament Hill.

As a result, we bring more energy, happiness and creative work and less likely to leave the company. I find you will do your job better if you take time to recharge.

6) New Goals + New Routine = Increased Motivation

Creating weekly goals and breaking a new routine can increase your energy levels. Changing your routine can be as simple as going out for dinner with a friend or making two different group exercise classes. Guaranteed, you will find an increase in motivation and energy levels that can carry on into the next work day.

Try this week to split up your week with a new goal or routine. Try something on Wednesday. Get over that hump! #humpday

7) Your Body Will Thank You.

My boyfriend is a lawyer. Without a doubt, the profession is stressful – mentality and even physically. He is either staring at a computer screen all day or meeting with clients to make tough yet very important decisions. Talk about stressful.

When he comes home and knows the kind of stress his body is in, he suggests going for a long walk. Light physical activity. We both ‘walk’ away from work as far as possible. So make sure you give your body and mind some TLC after a long day!